ABC Open House

I finally picked up my film from the ABC Brussels Open House that took place at the beginning of June. I had been looking forward to seeing this space for months, since learning that this place existed!

I walked around and watched adults and children enjoying themselves, immersing themselves in materials and sensory experiences and books and paint and blocks and homemade soup. I was blown away by the space, by the planning that must be involved, and by how the adults were enjoying themselves as much as the children. I would LOVE to be in those planning meetings.





















I am in love with this place. I observed and interacted, and wrote and wrote and wrote about what was inspiring me. It was really beautiful to see! Perhaps I'll share more photos and words on another day when I'm looking for inspiration.

I'm off to China tomorrow...and luckily my travel plans include a visit to Alderwood House School in British Columbia when we get to that side of the ocean...I'm so excited!

Happy summer to all!

Goodbye school year!

*Images from our last day of school*

The children are gone; the artwork is down from the walls; the last glass of wine has been drank with co-workers. Cheers to a wonderful year, and wonderful children, and wonderful teachers; and to a new year in August!

I am off to my own holiday on Tuesday...China, the Pacific Northwest, Connecticut, and then back to Belgium in mid-August. I have so much to share that I have already planned and created, but I may not be around to respond to comments. I'll do my best! Have a wonderful summer, if you are a teacher or not!

We're coming to the end

Some images from our last week at school. We're all done on Friday afternoon.

house of cards

I spread some cards out on a table one morning, and this is what happened. For one boy in particular, it was a lesson in perseverence! That's not easy stuff!

Boulder Journey School

Inspiring images from what looks like a lovely school. Boulder Journey School is a Reggio-inspired school for children 6 weeks to 6 years. I'd love to visit someday!

music in transitions

When I moved to Seattle in 2004, the very first place I began working was as a substitute at the Hilltop Children's Center. I contacted them before I moved from New York, and I spent a few of my first days in Seattle working at this beautiful, Reggio inspired school.

I was thinking about one of my days at Hilltop on Monday when we were getting ready to end choice time. I said we would be done in 5 minutes...then in 2 minutes...then in 1 minute...then I asked the child with the job of bell ringer to "ring the bell". The bell rang, and, like some days, the blocks were kicked over, scarves were shoved onto the hat rack, and buckets and funnels were literally thrown into the water at the sensory table. More of a mess was created then when we were working.

So my thought is this (and I do have a point): Am I stressing them with all of the warnings and creating a clean up time explosion? I have this memory (which may be partially fictional because of my constant awe about how this EVER could have happened) of being at Hilltop during choice time/center time/free play/what have you, and the children took the cue from a piece of music to know when to clean up. It was a classical piece...a teacher turned it on with a few minutes left, and at a certain point in the piece, the children began to clean up and transition into the next activity.

Some children need the verbal warning, especially if transitions are difficult for them. We rest and eat in the classroom, so we need to make floor space and clear off the tables -- clean up has to happen. The verbal warnings and the bell work, but could using the music approach work and keep the room calm?

I found myself shuffling through my iPod on the bus home from work that day, thinking about what music would work. I'm intrigued. Is it a useful tool, or is it a Pavlovian signal?

Rain Rain Rain

For some reason, as I'm getting ready for the summer, I keep thinking about rain. Perhaps its because I grew up in New England, with really sticky, hot days that broke into thunderstorms that we loved to run around, wearing bathing suits and soggy sneakers.

The thunderstorm has left the classroom, but it is still raining quite a bit in Brussels!

This is fun. A few of the children really enjoyed making raindrop songs and loops -- and its a fun sound to hear coming from the corner of the classroom.

Maps!

and other map-like things.





















The concepts the children seemed to connect most with were:

• how do you get from one place to another?
• what is a map for?
• what do you see on the way to school?

The inspiration comes from observing the children with maps in the classroom, and from here. I was really struck by the dominoes, and how they looked like a trail or a road.

On an unrelated-to-the-classroom note, just the word "maps" makes me think of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Which in turn reminds me that Karen O wrote most of the soundtrack for Where The Wild Things Are. October cannot come soon enough.

Tuesday's Photograph

photograph by ch, age 4

sketchbooks in the morning?

How do your students transition into the day?

Right now, children enter the classroom starting at 8:40 am. By 9:00, most of the children have arrived. We jump right into "choice time" upon arrival, where the children choose activities around the room - writing, blocks, painting, dramatic play, looking at books, and the light table are always options.

At about 9:15, we gather to have a meeting. We look at the calendar, talk about the day, read a story, and have a conversation.

After this we go back to choice time until we have somewhere else to go, like music, gym, or library.

There is nothing wrong with this schedule, per se. It has worked just fine. But I came across a lovely idea that I think can be adapted for young children : sketchbooks in the morning. It would be a way for the children to gather their thoughts at the beginning of the day. Children could bring items from home, or found items, to put into their sketchbooks. Photographs and relevant items could be on the tables for inspiration. We could implement some of the ten activities that are suggested to get things going, and develop a bank of inspiration and activities that work for us (and share it with sketchbooks in schools!) and make connections with other groups of young children with sketchbooks.

I wonder about sharing sketchbooks. I keep a book where I write and draw, and i don't share it with others, really. Would it be too imposing to gather together once a week and share our sketchbook entries?

I may dismiss this idea as a late night rambling, or it just might stick. I love it right now...

I am in the midst of writing reports for parents. They are each a narrative "covering" four areas of their child's year: personal and social development; language and literacy; mathematical thinking; and learning through inquiry.

We did these once before, in December. I know my students, and I can write to each of these subjects. This is the first school I have worked at that has reports, and this is not how I would choose to share information with parents.

How do you share information with parents? Conferences? Reports? Portfolio sharing?


p.s. These last few weeks will be quite hectic, so I apologize for the inevitable lapses in writing. Perhaps you'll just see lots of photographs!

Recycled Alphabet Accordion Book

So beautiful! And a wonderful way to experience the alphabet, too...





See every letter here!

From Making Books with Children via Playful Learning

Tuesday's Photograph

photograph by jo, age 4

A Map to Germany

The end of the year is stressful when I'm not with the students -- reports, end of the year party planning with parents, last minute faculty meetings, teaching observations, paperwork, forms for children moving to new schools...but this is the easiest time of the year to be with the kids. Things are more relaxed, and we do more activities where we work and chat with each other.

On that note, the coffee talk kind of atmosphere often involves adults sitting with children at activities. I have mixed feelings about adults drawing and painting in the classroom. It might make a child feel inferior about their own abilities, or it might inspire them. I don't think teachers should draw things for kids -- for example, if a child says, "I can't draw a cat! Draw one for me!" -- thats a no-no in my book. But I've also always been torn about drawing on my own in front of kids.

But on this particular day, one child began drawing a map from his house to Germany...


I told him I liked his idea, and I began to draw a map of my trip that I'll be taking this summer...


As I began drawing, three more children began to make maps of their own....







I was inspired by a child, and, in turn, other people in the room were inspired. I had also been thinking about having the children do the What Shape Are Your Thoughts activity from Sketchbooks for Schools, but was not sure who would be interested, or how to introduce that rather abstract idea to them. And then, it just fell into my lap.

I'm excited about the concept of mapping with the children as the year comes to a close -- mapping places and things and ideas! I'm glad I decided to draw on this particular day.

keyboard magic

First, I couldn't find a keyboard. Then, I couldn't find heaphones. Then the headphone jack didn't fit into the hole thingy. Then the adapter didn't fit onto the headphone jack. Then I had no batteries.

But on Thursday, it all came together! Another teacher's keyboard, my headphones and adapter from home, and some batteries fresh out of the overnight charger. It was a beautiful day to just watch.

This one stayed for a long time, playing with her fingers, elbows, and chin, and experimenting with different note combinations and rhythms...



And this one swayed and nodded her head to her own beat.



I may spend the weekend on Belgian ebay searching for the perfect classroom keyboard.

because the cat ate all of the shoes in australia

We were inspired by Ruth Krauss today. We read a few pages from I'll Be You and You Be Me, and then set out to write a poem as a group of eight. The children liked the poem written "by a tree for some bugs". After some discussion, they chose to write a poem by a cat, for some shoes.

someone wearing a shoe
then a cat eat the shoe
maybe trying to get it off?
the cat would bite the shoelaces
the cat eat the shoe
the cat eat the shoelaces
and he eats it all up
a person comes out
and throws the cat outside
because the cat ate all of the shoes in Australia
a boy says, "the end!"

This is my first attempt at writing poetry with children. When we write a story together, I sometimes give them a first line to lead in. I didn't do that today -- instead I wrote everything the children said and that was the poem. We have been reading loads of poems of all kinds - rhyming and non-rhyming - and the children seem interested. Do you use poetry in the classroom?

More sharing about Ruth Krauss to come next week!

Adie Loves Polly

Adie is a five year old girl; Polly is her Polaroid camera. Adie Loves Polly is where her mother posts her polaroids and her words to describe them.

They have taken a bit of a hiatus in posting...you can find all of Adie's photos from when she was four years old here. But she has started up a new space here for all of her photography as a five-year-old. I love polaroids and children's photography, so the mix of the two is just wonderful.

I hope you're enjoying the children's photographs I'm sharing on Tuesdays...feel free to leave your thoughts! The first three are here, here, and here.

Tuesday's Photograph

photograph by lé, age 4

Do schools kill creativity?

A wonderful talk by Sir Ken Robinson.



"All children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up." -- Picasso